A tinplate production plant in Weirton will idle in April, resulting in potential job losses for 900 workers, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. announced today.
Affected employees will be provided relocation opportunities to work at other Cliffs’ facilities and/or severance packages, the company said.
Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America. The tin produced in Weirton has been used to produce food packaging and other containers.
The plant in Weirton got caught up in the unforgiving churn of the international market economy. The company cited an earlier unanimous decision issued by the International Trade Commission negating the implementation of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on tin mill products calculated by the Department of Commerce.
“This bad outcome requires better and stronger trade laws,” stated Lourenco Goncalves, president and chief executive of Cleveland-Cliffs in an announcement of the closure.
Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers had accused other countries of dumping their own tin at unfair market value, undercutting domestic production. The International Trade Commission concluded last week that the effect of lower prices from international producers was negligible.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. ITC betrayed America. There isn’t any question whatsoever, none at all, that these companies are dumping their products onto our marketplace,” Mark Glyptis, president of Local 2911 United Steelworkers Union in Weirton, said in an interview with MetroNews.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., made reference to that decision by the trade commission in his reaction today to the plant’s closure announcement.
“Cleveland-Cliffs’ closure is an absolute injustice not only to American workers, but to the very principle of fair competition, and it will undoubtedly weaken our economic and national security,” Manchin stated.
Manchin toured the facility in Weirton along with Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio in September, drawing attention to the antidumping concerns.
“I strongly urge the Administration to take this opportunity to do the right thing and recommit to revitalizing our domestic manufacturing, strengthening our supply chains, and keeping good-paying jobs right here in the Mountain State,” Manchin stated today.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she was devastated to learn of the plant closure.
“While little consolation to the hardworking men and women facing this incredible loss—and to the Weirton community at large—I fought to sustain operations there since learning of Cleveland Cliffs’ and the United Steelworkers’ concerns with unfair trade practices last year,” Capito stated.”
Congressman Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., described the impending closure as “an absolute blow to our hardworking West Virginia steelworkers.” The plant is in the district that Mooney is elected to represent in Congress.
“I talked with the Department of Commerce and urged them to crack down on unfair foreign competition and save these jobs. The Department of Commerce sided with us, but the globalist, Democrat led International Trade Commission sided with the cheap foreign competitors and as a result another American plant was closed,” Mooney stated today.
State Senator Ryan Weld, whose district includes the Weirton area, said he has spoken with officials in the northern panhandle and in Charleston to help ensure workers and their families receive all the assistance they might need.
Weld, R-Brooke, said the community “is once again faced with an empty mill and unemployed workers because of the federal government not doing its job and failing to protect American workers.”
State delegates Mark Zatezalo and Jimmy Willis, Republicans who represent the Weirton area, said the closure is “nothing short of devastating.”
They too blasted the International Trade Commission. “We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure the jobs at Cleveland Cliffs do not become another export to a foreign country,” the delegates stated.
In January 2023, Cleveland-Cliffs and co-petitioners the United Steelworkers filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions about unfairly traded tin and chromium coated sheet steel products.
After finding evidence of dumping and subsidization, this Jan. 5, the Department of Commerce announced duties on four countries, including Canada, China, Germany and South Korea.
However, last week, Feb. 6, the International Trade Commission unanimously rejected these tariffs. Four members of the trade commission determined that the impact of tin imports from those countries was negligible.
The consumer brands association, whose members use the tin for canning products, praised the commission’s decision as a “complete repudiation of a petition brought by steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs.”
“If the tariffs had been imposed at the levels requested by Cleveland-Cliffs, nearly 40,000 manufacturing jobs would have been put at risk, with consumer prices for canned goods soaring up to 30 percent,” stated Consumer Brands Association President and Chief Executive David Chavern.
Goncalves, the chairman of Cleveland-Cliffs, directed criticism at “the tin can makers and consumer groups who irrationally fought against American jobs and a domestic-based food supply chain,” concluding “this outcome is due to your own greed.”
He went on to state, “We worked very closely with our partners at the USW on this solution to save Weirton, and together fought tirelessly for its survival.
“In what was our final effort to maintain tinplate production here in America, we proved that we are forced to operate on an uneven playing field, and that the deck was stacked in favor of the importers.”